


half doomed (semi-sweet)

by norudeghosts



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Magical Boys, Blood and Injury, Dark Magical Boys, Everyone Makes Foolish Decisions And Pays Dearly For It, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, grey morality, not so much inspired by madoka as influenced by a half-gone memory of it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:14:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27123692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/norudeghosts/pseuds/norudeghosts
Summary: It looks like a fox, in a strange way. Like someone took the idea of a fox and painted it in glass and watercolor, edges too sharp and blurred at the same time. It blinks up at him, slitted eyes all color, and somehow the motion sets his teeth on edge.Well?It asks again, its silent voice scratching at the inside of his skull.Do we have a deal?
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 17





	half doomed (semi-sweet)

Hyunjin thinks he's dreaming.

The street around him has the same strange impressionistic feel his dreams usually have; houses more abstract concepts than actual structures, the streets under his feet unsteady and shifting. It’s familiar and totally foreign all at once. He almost doesn’t think anything of it, content to wander through without a destination until it ends.

And then the first building shatters.

Pieces fall around him in stop-motion, there one second then hurtling into the ground, and he finds himself just staring blankly at the craters that form. There’s a disconnect in part of his brain; he knows it’s dangerous, really, but it doesn’t _feel_ like it. Even as the rest of the row of houses begin to fracture and splinter around him, he stays put, watching the shrapnel blink through the air overhead.

Something gleams in the space between.

The movement sends debris crashing to the road around Hyunjin, and he instinctively raises his arms to block his face; through sheer luck, everything misses him, instead cracking the concrete around his feet. The dust burns in his lungs and eyes, coating his tongue, and he almost gags from the taste of asphalt and ash. It’s too painful, too _real_ , and that’s all it takes for the fear to come crashing down on top of him.

The fear, and the beast.

Any closer and it would have crushed him when it landed. It’s some horrific mish-mash of flesh and technology, exposed circuitry woven into bloody muscle, a twisted mockery of what he _thinks_ was, at one point, supposed to be a badger. It’s so much bigger up close, and fast, bolting away from him down the street. The _sound_ echoes in his ears, raw and metallic, enough he almost misses what the creature is running towards.

For a second, he thinks he’s imagining the figure plummeting out of the sky. But the ground trembles when it- _they_ land. The hulking monster blocks his view, leaping on top of the other person. He expects the crunching of bone, maybe a scream.

Then the creature is heaved off its feet, blood spilling across the asphalt. It’s suspended in midair for only a moment, but the image burns itself into his eyes anyway. A long pole is driven into the creature's chest. Rivulets of blood follow it back to the wielder, staining white gloves ruby red, and Hyunjin can't look away.

Maybe it's dumb and childish to think it, but in that second he absolutely understands the concept of love at first sight.

It’s too dark for perfect detail, even with the full moon above- _when did it become night?_ \- spilling light over the figure. Hyunjin can’t count his eyelashes, or make out every mark on his skin, and yet he’s convinced this is the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. Even with the blood splattered over his skin and the harsh set of his jaw, something about him feels soft, almost delicate. Hell, with his elegant outfit- something Hyunjin would picture on a prince out of a fairytale, all white and light blue fabric with some kind of pattern that shimmers in the dim light- he looks like he should be preparing for some kind of ball.

Not fighting a mangled monster in the dark.

With one sharp movement, the stranger manages to wrench his weapon free of the beast, sending it crashing to the ground a few meters away, and the illusion of perfection shatters. Now Hyunjin can see the tears and dirt marring the once-pristine outfit, the blood spatter smeared over his face and chest from the force of the blow. His chest is heaving, and Hyunjin almost calls out to him, maybe asks him if he’s alright.

But the words freeze on his tongue, trapped there somehow, and the panic seeps back in. He raises one hand instinctively, wrapping it around his throat like the block is something he can feel and remove.

_He wouldn’t be able to hear you, even if you could speak._

Those aren’t his thoughts. The fear freezes his blood cold.

In front of him, the stranger turns, bracing himself against his weapon. It looks like a weird mix between an axe and a spear- there’s a name for it, Hyunjin’s sure, but the adrenaline keeps him from being able to think clearly enough. His body language alone looks exhausted, like he’s been going for far longer than Hyunjin can even imagine.

_Oh, he has. That’s the fifth one today._

There’s not really a _sound_ to it, no strange voice clueing him in, just the alien awareness that they aren’t his own thoughts. It’s uncomfortable at best, and he spins in place, trying to find something to explain.

Before he finishes the first turn, something comes tearing through the still-suspended debris, knocking them aside and to the ground with a deafening crash. The stranger immediately tenses, shifting his weight as if to face the source, but before he can even turn something slams into him, sending him flying down the street to land with a sickening sound.

Hyunjin wants to yell. Scream, cry out, shout, _anything_ , but it’s like his voice is trapped inside him no matter how hard he tries. The new creature might have been a bear, once, burly form scarred and ripped open to expose wet circuitry and flesh underneath, and Hyunjin spares half a thought for how _painful_ its existence must be.

Then the stranger staggers to his feet, clothes torn to reveal what looks like a nasty gash in his side and scrapes all down his legs. He’s not _dead_ , which is a relief, but the damage is enough to make his chest ache.

_You can help him. I can give you that chance._

Hyunjin is being watched.

He looks over his shoulder, freezing for a moment at the sight of the creature walking up the road. It picks its way through the chaos and destruction casually, as if this is just a normal midnight stroll, and comes to a stop a few feet away. Behind him, as he turns, he can hear the monster roar. The sound of movement and fighting. But it all feels muted, like it’s through water.

It looks like a fox, in a strange way. Like someone took the idea of a fox and painted it in glass and watercolor, edges too sharp and blurred at the same time. It blinks up at him, slitted eyes all color, and somehow the motion sets his teeth on edge. _Well?_ It asks again, its silent voice scratching at the inside of his skull.

_Do we have a deal?_

He almost argues. He almost refuses. Even with his voice trapped, he _knows_ he could. Knows that this creature has no power over him unless he lets it.

But a harsh cry from behind him, a _human_ one, the stranger- it makes the risk seem small, somehow. That helping the man would be worth whatever he would have to give away.

Hyunjin nods.

The fox-like creature draws back its muzzle in an imitation of a smile. Razor-sharp teeth glint in the moonlight.

_Good._

It’s like a movie cut; one moment they’re on the street, the next they’re standing in an empty room. At least Hyunjin _thinks_ it’s a room. There’s a floor and a ceiling but it seems to stretch on for eternity in all other directions, a featureless near-white void. The only distinct thing about is the faint hint of colors shimmering and twisting on the floor, refracting a pastel rainbow like he’s standing on the surface of an opal. It reacts with his weight, each small shift sending out spiraling patterns, and he spares a thought for how pretty the effect is.

_Hwang Hyunjin._

That snaps his attention back to the fox-creature, which doesn’t look any _less_ out of place here. “Yes?” He answers without thinking, then his eyes widen at the sound of his own voice. “I can talk again.”

_Most humans can, yes._

Its tail swishes. Hyunjin isn’t sure if his eyes are playing tricks on him or if for a moment he can see more than just the one. He wants to run. But the image of blood on blue fabric sticks in his head, and he stays.

_Hwang Hyunjin. You have agreed to service in return for the ability to aid another in their own service. Do you accept the contract?_

The whole thing is vague. It’s _so_ open ended- service? What kind of service? To who? If what he saw was ‘service’, then he’s agreed to fighting monsters for… What? Was there an end date or did it end when he screwed up and died? Why did the other man make such a bizarre deal?

Why did he _care_ so much about a complete stranger?

Hyunjin has made bad decisions. Plenty of them! He jumped off the swings as a kid even after his mom said not to and scraped both his knees wide open. There was the time he almost got kidnapped by a cult.

But this? This feels like the worst decision he’s ever made.

He sucks in a deep breath, feeling his lungs expand in his ribcage.

“I accept.”

**Author's Note:**

> i am Back On My Bullshit! i have a Plot i have Ideas they are just. large and sprawling. this is gonna get Real Fucked Up folks
> 
> twt: norudeghosts


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